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Friday, July 12, 2013

motherhood isn't so bad!

A large part of my typical day looks like this...

I agree with The Atlantic's rebuttal to the recent Parent magazine statistic: 92% of moms think their job is the toughest. If it were truly the hardest job, would so many women volunteer to do it full time? I doubt it. I wonder whether women say it's the most difficult job so we can somehow validate why we've decided to stay home in a culture that doesn't particularly value child-raising as a career a competent woman would undertake. Or perhaps the researchers called during lunchtime, which is a moment I would probably shout into the receiver, "YOU'RE DAMNED RIGHT IT'S THE HARDEST JOB! WHO WANTS TO KNOW?"

Sisyphus had it worse, but this ain't no picnic...

Rather, I appreciate that The Atlantic cited a quote by C.S. Lewis, who said that while motherhood might not be the most difficult job around, "it is the most important work in the world." I also love that they included one of my favorite Bill Burr skits, in which he compares stay-at-home motherhood to coal mining. Actually, it's kind of funny that he used coal mining as his example because Nate frequently points out that he'd rather be a coal miner than do what I do as a birth doula.

On the whole, motherhood does have some shitty moments of both the literal and figurative variety. I laughed out loud at a Jezebel commentary in which the author describes her horrifying C-section recovery, not because it was funny but what else are you going to do but laugh? I also agree with that writer that "[motherhood] pushes a woman to her absolute limits physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually. It will break you." Yes, but so will lots of jobs.

What do you think about the Parent magazine findings? I suppose if the statistic holds true, you'll probably agree. OR, perhaps it's true only for people who read parenting magazines?

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